New head of Czech Gov't Agency for Social Inclusion will involve more socially excluded people
a crisis – employees backed Šimáček, went on strike for one day, and ultimately approximately one-third of them quit.
Jiránek has given an interview to news server iDNES.cz about his search for new colleagues and his ideas about the Agency’s work. He was asked why the work of the Agency to date has not been accepted by some members of the Romani elite.
"I would divide this into two levels. At the first level are the completely unrealistic expectations of some Romani people that they will be employed in the Agency without going through selection procedures or having the requisite qualifications. I have clarified with our colleagues that the Agency is based on neutrality, we choose people according to whether we need someone with a college education, a high school education, or a person with certain experiences… I will only be glad if Romani people apply for jobs here," Jiránek said.
The Agency director said the second level has to do with involving people from the socially excluded localities in decision-making. "That is the second thing – participation of Roma, whether the political elites, people from the civil sector, or ordinary citizens in decision-making processes underway in the localities. There I can guarantee them the opportunity to participate, neither I nor my colleagues have a problem with that. At the beginning of our work in the localities an analysis of the problems is performed and citizens are involved… The next step is strategic planning and the socially excluded are also directly involved in that – and if they are not involved right now, we will initiate their involvement," he said in the interview.
